FDL

[Chris Sharman]

>I'm trying to create an FDL for a file that i've just changed the record =
>layout in PowerHouse.  This file is also read by cobol, and i'd like the =
>new FDL to have the same key definition as the old FDL has.
>
>I'm not sure why....know nothing about cobol, and this is beyond my =
>scope of understanding FDL's.
>
>This is what i've tried so far
>
>$ANAL/RMS/FDL/OUT=3DMAPCUR.ANAL MAPCUR.ISM
>$EDIT/FDL/NOINTERACTIVE/ANALYSIS=3DMAPCUR.ANAL MAPCUR.FDL
>$CONVERT/STAT/FDL=3DMAPCUR.FDL MAPCUR.ISM MAPCUR.ISM
>
>The first reference of mapcur.ism is the new file i've created for the =
>PH dic, using PHDFM
>In the second line i reference the old FDL and compare it with my =
>previous analysis
>which creates a new FDL. =20
>then I try to convert my newfile with this newly created =
>fdl......Problem is, since i've changed the size of my key in the new =
>file (the one created via PHDFM) to 17 character (which used to be 15), =
>when i convert the file, it returns it back to 15....
>
>I'm not sure if anybody can follow what i'm trying to do here, but help =
>would be very appreciated.

So you've changed the file in the dictionary, used PHDFM CREATE to create the
new file; then anal/rms/fdl to create the FDL (correctly).

You've then used EDIT/FDL/NOINTER/ANAL=<newfdl> <oldfdl>.
That's telling it to use the file structure in the old fdl, and tune bucket
sizes etc using the analysis of the new (empty?) file. The other way round
might make more sense.

All the messing about with FDLs seems redundant to me.
PHDFM CREATE is all you have to do.
You can tune the file if you want, either manually (EDIT/FDL/SCRIPT=OPTIMIZE)
or automatically (/NOINTERACTIVE), but to do that usefully you must have a
file with representative data in it, or knowledge of what one looks like.
If you look in the FDL generated by ANAL/RMS/FDL, you'll see all the structure
information first, followed by various ANALYSIS sections.

It is well worth tuning files: Powerhouse defaults are usually very poor; but
you need meaningful analysis data, not from a brand new empty file.
It's also well worth tuning your dictionary files themselves: they too are
indexed files, and depending on the size of your dictionary may be mistuned:
given the use they get I reckon it's worth tuning: this is a very VMS-specific
area, and as such not addressed by POwerhouse at all.

Chris
______________________________________________________________________
Chris Sharman			Chris.Sharman@CCAgroup.co.uk
CCA Stationery Ltd, Eastway, Fulwood, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 9WS.
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